I never did get to post last week.  It was one of those weeks that was just too full. Something had to give.

Last week, I chose to practice. Just like everyday, I specifically allotted time to spend at my harp.

Because the week was busy, I had to chivvy time out of other places to get things accomplished.

I chose to practice. Or more accurately, I protected the practice time and let other things slide.

I chose to not let practice get shifted off the schedule.  I cut back on other things – sleep got short shrift too, and I didn’t write to you.

I’m happy with my choice.  I’m equally happy that I consciously put practicing on the front burner.

Hopefully the coming weeks will be calmer and more controlled! And I hope when presented with the options, you chose to practice too!

Most harpers have some concept of the (likely romanticized) history of the harper – an important contributor to life in the home of the Laird, carrier of news, stories, lore, and intrigue, and provider of music for all events and perhaps for everyday living.  Likely you know that at some point harping was an excellent profession for the blind – a job that didn’t require being sighted to be excellent.  And of course, we have the Rory’s in history.  We are ever so slightly proud of that heritage.

So why then, do I so often hear, “Oh, I have to look!” or “I can’t play without seeing the strings” or some variation on these?   I’ve also hear, “I’ll make a complete mess of it if I don’t look!”

And you know what I’ll say to that – you simply need to practice to play without looking!  There are so many reasons to play without looking:

• Candle light/poor lighting
• Power cuts
• Outdoor, dusk weddings
• Poor or changing vision

But if you practice playing in low or no light situations you will see a number of improvements:

• Your body will know where the notes are (and will learn that better than if you are always looking)
• You’ll be more confident in a number of situations (listed above)
• You don’t have to remember to carry a light (of course, this assumes you don’t need the music stand!)

If you need a little nudge to start playing in low light, start by practicing at dusk by natural light – and let the night come.  It will be very gradual.  You’ll learn this way that you can in fact play with little light.

Don’t get discouraged – you had to learn to play by looking – and this is no different…and enjoy – you’ll impress your harp friends too!

Jack London is quoted as saying, “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”

Every day we have to build our motivation to get onto that bench. Every day we have to work to maintain our proficiency and to get just a little bit better. Every day that we decide to skip sitting on the bench to do that work takes us a little farther away from what we want – in our heads and in our hearts. And every day a big something, or a hundred little somethings, get between us and that bench. And every day that we don’t make it to the bench makes the next day just a little easier to skip.

And so, every day, we have to get inspired, motivated to get on that bench. But, as Mr. London said, we cannot just sit idly by, awaiting the momentous arrival of that inspiration. Rather, we have to hunt for it…and some days, we need that club! We have to do not only the work that we set out to do, but we also have to do the additional work of digging in and finding our inspiration – the right fit for each day, and applying it to ourselves.

Some days the inspiration can be learning, another day it might be fear (the dreaded upcoming competition perhaps?), and on another day it might suffice to be the joy of being at your harp. The toughest days are those in which you can’t identify the right inspiration – but that can be just what you needed that day – some distance – but not distance from the harp!

So, don’t wait for inspiration to fall from the sky – make your own.  Apply it to your day – with (or without) a club! See you on the bench.

Technique. Even the word makes us think, “Ugh, not that!”. It is almost the same as running out for the ice cream truck only to find it selling liver and onions!

But good technique is essential to playing well and to protecting your body. You can build good technique with, you guessed it, practice. Building good technique will allow you to get more out of you. And good technique is applicable to any instrument, not just harp. Here are five ways good technique is important to you:

• Injury prevention – Musicians of all levels report nagging injuries. Many of these are overuse injuries and many can be prevented by good technique. Be sure to close and open your fingers, sit upright (also handy for breathing), be relaxed, keep your head up, etc.
• Speed – we value fast playing but so many people get in their own way on the road to playing faster because of poor technique. Improving your technique will help you get faster.

• Agility – just like speed, so often people get in their own way because their poor technique has left their hand cramped, their arm glued to the sound board or their shoulders in their ears (either because of tension or their head is cocked).
• Flexibility – I mean options – having good technique means that you’re in a position to have options should you experience a “jazz improvisation”. And that good technique will typically result in fewer of those experiences!
• Improved practice time – most people don’t want to spend time on technique because it’s boring and they would rather get on to playing, but just a little time on technique will yield extensive benefit to the rest of your practice time.

Working on your technique may not be fun but it is fundamental. And building good technique is imminently easier (and less time consuming) than correcting bad technique later!  Spend just a little time each day and enjoy years of making music the way you want to!

There are a number of basic things that we can do to help us learn music, play better, and have an easier time of getting from one to the other. Usually these things are simple, easy really.   Marking your music is one of those things. So why do so many people skip this important step?

Ok, I don’t have an answer for that, maybe because it seems difficult?  Or because we never want to do the fundamental work which looks easy but usually is anything but?  Since we don’t have an answer, instead let’s focus on what marking your music can do for you (besides get you from first look to easy playing!). Here are six reasons to mark up your dots!

1. Marking your music requires that you read through the music first. I always tell my students that reading music is like reading Greek – if you keep practicing it, a little at a time, it will get easier. Practice enough, it will become effortless.
2. Writing in reminders (in pencil – things change!) will help you remember! Pencil in your fingerings and placements until you’re comfortable (then you can erase and fill the space up with phrasings, dynamics, tempo changes, and other notes.
3. Mark your lever (or pedal) changes. You might think you’ll remember to make the lever change, but when push comes to shove, the reminder is good to have (it also helps your remember to practice the change as part of the music not as an afterthought).
4. If you’re in an ensemble you can mark reminders of what other players will be doing. Or you can pencil in changes the director adds to your notes.
5. You can mark passages you are having difficulty with and need to practice more – you can break them down, rearrange them, and mark how you’d like to proceed.
6. You can also mark to remind you when you get to your lesson of specific questions you’d like to ask.

Never forget that you have the dots in front of you to help you remember. Adding marks to the dots will allow you to remember more. Marking in pencil gives you room to develop, grow, learn and change how you play. And remember — the marking is there as a guide – nothing is sacrosanct about the marks – just erase when you’re ready to move along! Enjoy making your mark!